May December – Review

Tricky to talk about grooming, isn’t it? It’s almost always blatant enough to call out but what happens if the revelation isn’t the end of the thing? Todd Haynes looked to explore that idea in his latest film, May December, and he’s turned out a highly campy movie that is as much a black comedy as it is a modern take on Bergman’s Persona. Shame Netflix acquired this one, I’d have really liked to have seen it in a theatre.

Part of that desire comes from just how big everyone’s performances are. They aren’t showy, with the stories of method acting or the overblown ridiculousness of a more open comedy. Instead, they range everywhere from confused to horny to being emotionally tied to a chair and battered. Most would recognize the abusive relationships going on but how many of us have participated in them without realizing it? An interesting question amongst a sea of them.

Natalie Portman definitely gets the lion’s share of exuberance as Elizabeth Berry, an up-and-coming TV actress who’s signed onto an indie film depicting the life of real couple Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Julianne Moore) and Joe Yoo (Charles Melton). They’re just a loving couple living in Georgia with their twin children, both about to graduate high school and head to college with their older sister. Why make a film about this? Well, that older sister was born in prison after 36-year-old Gracie seduced 13-year-old Joe in the stockroom of the pet store they both worked for in the year 1992. Now, in 2015, their lives are interrupted by someone who wants to really get to know Gracie’s psychology.

Beyond this ludicrous setup is a very darkly comic movie that takes a bit of the sting away from watching this marriage implode at just the tiniest bit of examination. Joe, the perpetual man-child that he is, dedicates his life solely to Gracie and her needs. Gracie, meanwhile, makes sure to show her emotions as largely as possible so that her childgroom never steps away from her. He describes his adult attractions as “crushes” and seems to have never mentally grown into his adult body.

That makes a ton of room for Elizabeth, a seductress that Natalie Portman plays large enough that even the back of the house is going to feel the heat. One moment she’s intimately examining every inch of Gracie’s makeup routine and the next she’s standing in Joe’s X-Ray Tech room at the hospital where he works, tilting her head and looking up at him with a smile that screams “I know you’re interested (“I know what it must have felt like.” “What?” “Sneaking around with you.”).” At a Q&A with the theatre class young Mary Atherton-Yoo (Elizabeth Yu) attends Elizabeth takes a question about sex scenes and turns it into the horniest description of acting I’ve ever heard. It’s that aggressive chemistry with everything and everyone that creates an atmosphere of personal invasion that would make even the most dedicated actor cringe.

It’s Gracie’s utter lack of shame that serves as a catalyst for all of the drama in the back half of Haynes’ film. She has never once regretted her decision to sexually assault a minor or her dedication to seeing it through as a family unit, something that she thinks will serve as a display of how brave and secure she is in herself. Elizabeth’s probing begins to unravel the narrative, particularly as he begins to examine his marriage and his own ability to make decisions. Sitting on his own roof and smoking weed with his son, Charlie (Gabriel Chung), he weeps, “God, I can’t tell if we’re connecting, or if I’m creating a bad memory for you in real time, but I can’t help it.” His own children show more maturity than he does and it makes for an extremely creepy family dynamic.

Portman’s ambiguous pursuit of character, Moore’s always-excellent softness with a razor’s edge, and Melton’s ability to become a 7th-grader in an adult body all meld together to create one of the best films of 2023 and what is now my favorite Haynes film. Scenes and performances are glued together by Marcelo Zarvos’s big, dramatic score that adapts Michael Leningrad’s score for The Go-Between. It feels less like a drama and more like The Young & The Restless, with twists and turns that feel familiar and yet infinitely more silly than they should be. That may be the only way to portray this kind of dynamic and Zarvos understood the assignment.

This one’s going to be complicated for most viewers but I think it’s an incredible film. Wonderful performances across the board, excellent set design and costuming, and a deliciously dark romance all come together to make Todd Haynes’ latest his best.

May December is now streaming on Netflix.